


Catherine's Unexpected Leave

by misslucy21



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-11
Updated: 2013-02-11
Packaged: 2017-11-28 23:24:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/680040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misslucy21/pseuds/misslucy21
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Hey, Danny. Is Steve here?” </p>
<p>“Yeah, but you may not want to come in.”</p>
<p>She raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”</p>
<p>Danny sighed. “Steve got hit with the flu pretty bad.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Catherine's Unexpected Leave

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ariadnes_string](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariadnes_string/gifts).



> Many thanks to Hagar for word-poking!

Catherine hit the doorbell to Steve’s house; she didn’t want to startle him by just walking in. She’d called him last night when she got into port. He hadn’t answered, so she figured he was on a case. 

She wasn’t surprised when Danny answered the door, but he was. “Catherine.”

“Hey, Danny. Is Steve here?” 

“Yeah, but you may not want to come in.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”

Danny sighed. “Steve got hit with the flu pretty bad.” 

She looked at him more closely. “You don’t look so great yourself. You okay?”

Danny blinked, almost protested, then sighed instead. “No. No, I’m not.”

She shouldered her kit. “So, then maybe I’d better come in.”

Danny stepped aside. “Yeah, okay.”

She dropped her kit and glanced around. “Steve upstairs?”

“Yeah.”

“Thermometer up there, too?” she asked. Danny nodded. “Okay, then let’s go.” She steadied him as they went up the stairs; he was wobbly, like having someone else there was letting him feel sick. 

Once in the bedroom, she pointed Danny to sit and saw that Steve was shivering, but asleep. She fished for the thermometer in the mess of sick-gear on the side table.

“Danno?” came a raspy voice. She found Steve squinting at her. “No, Cath?” 

“Yeah, it’s me.” She reached out to smooth his hair down. His skin was hot and damp. 

“When’d you get in?” he asked, then coughed badly. She tugged him upright while Danny came over and shoved the pillows back so Steve would be propped up.

“Last night. I left you a message-- figured you were out on a case.” 

“No,” he croaked. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Not your fault.” She helped him lay down and picked up the thermometer. “Okay, Danny, let’s check you out.” 

Steve frowned. “Danny?”

Danny shrugged. “There’s a pretty good chance I picked it up wherever you did, so I would have gotten it anyway.”

The thermometer beeped. “101.6,” Catherine declared. “Yep, I’d call that a fever.” She wiped it off and went to Steve. “Let’s check yours while I’ve got this out.” She waited until the beep. “100.4.” She glanced at Danny questioningly.

“He had some ibuprofen about an hour ago,” Danny said. “It was 103, then.” 

“Can I have my blanket back now, then?” Steve asked plaintively. 

“Yes,” Catherine said. She pulled it up from the end of the bed, then turned to Danny. “Okay, you need somewhere to lay down. Unless you want to just crash here?” 

“No,” Danny said. “No, the couch is fine.” 

“How about the guest room,” Catherine suggested. “It’ll be better for the aches.” 

“Danny can’t sleep without the TV,” Steve commented. 

“I’ll figure something out. You sleep,” she pointed at Steve. “You go crawl into bed,” she directed Danny, handing him the bottle of ibuprofen. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Catherine went downstairs to the kitchen to fill a water bottle and rummage through her kit for her iPad. She found Danny collapsed on the guest bed with an arm over his face. “Here, take some of that,” she said, nudging his hand with the water bottle and nodding at the ibuprofen on the side table. She hooked the iPad up to Steve’s wi-fi and handed it to Danny once he set the water bottle back down. “Netflix and Hulu Plus are on the desktop. Knock yourself out.” 

Danny smiled wanly. “Thanks, Catherine.” 

“You’re welcome. Yell if you need anything, okay?” 

“Sure.” She smiled at him and went back into Steve’s room to find him awake.

She sat down on the edge of the bed. “What can I do for you?” He tried to leer at her, but failed miserably. She chuckled. “I don’t think you’re up for that.” 

“Probably not,” he coughed. She tugged him up to sit against her shoulder. “God, this sucks,” he mumbled. 

“I know,” she said, rubbing his back and scanning the side table. “Did you try the Vicks rub?”

“Last night, I think.” 

“Well, it’s probably worn off by now.” She stripped off his sticky and sweaty shirt. “Getting cleaned up would make you feel better, too. I’ll be right back.” 

She fetched a wet washcloth and a towel from the bathroom and returned to the bedroom. She swiped off the remnants of last night’s gook, then dried Steve off before massaging the vapor rub in.

“Feels good,” he mumbled.

“Yeah? Good.” She wiped her hands on the towel before grabbing a clean shirt. “Sit up a bit.” She helped him put the shirt on, then leaned forward to kiss his forehead. 

“Don’t want to get you sick,” Steve protested weakly. 

“Shh,” she said. “Don’t worry about it.” 

+++++

The next four days were much the same. She bounced between Steve and Danny, prodding them into eating soup and drinking fluids and offering ibuprofen occasionally to keep the misery levels down. They were both too sick to be stubborn, which worried her. Steve was usually a lousy patient, and she suspected Danny wasn’t much better. However, it was making things easier. 

By the fifth day, Steve and Danny were both basically self-sufficient, if not work-ready. She secured promises that they wouldn’t push it and that they’d call Chin or Kono if need be, and headed back to base. 

The next morning, she found an email from Danny. She feared it would say that Steve had relapsed or done something extraordinarily stupid, like try to go swimming. Instead, it was an e-card:

">

 

She smiled. Maybe she should point out to Steve that this was an appropriate example of a potentially romantic gesture. Her email beeped again with a message from Steve: 

“Cath-

I’m sorry your leave sucked. I owe you. Big. Like, someplace with a table this time.

See you when you get back. I’ll try not to be sick next time. 

Love, Steve”. 

She had to admit, that was an improvement. Maybe he had been taking tips from Danny. She smiled again, printed out both emails and tucked them into her pocket.


End file.
